Strip-vulcanizing apparatus and method



Y 3 OTJPEO o 21 off/zzo 17 50 5 a.

April ze, 1927. 1,626,419

. T. J.- MELL STRIP VULCANIZING APPRATUS AND IETHOD Filed March 24. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l 38 n 50 Wim" @i JJQ iooa wo@ 19 o 1 o 54* Monti/17@ 19 o 16 o o mn null* f V l 'uit April 26. 1927.

1,626,419 T. J. MELL STRIP VULCANIZING APPARATUS AND METHOD Filed March 24. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M... ...Miu-

Patented Apr. 26, 1927..

UNITED STATES .PartnrV OFFICE.

TOD J'. HELL, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE B. F. GOODRICH COMIPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW' YORK.

STRIP-VULCANIZING APPARATUS AND MIE'IHOD.`

Application filed March 24, 1925.

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for vulcanizing; continuous strip material and its chief objects are to provide. large production capacity for a given equipment outlay, to provide for convenient and economical handling of the material to give the same a uniform press cure. and especially to vulcanize 4the material in molding; means through which the material is fed or stepped forward between cures to bringr successive reaches thereof into the molding means. Further objects are to provide such advantages with especial reference to quick surface-curing of sheet. rubber to impart a smooth finish thereto, as in the case of previously vulcanized rubber produced in sheet form by slicingr relative thin sheets from a thicker sheet of vulcanized rubber. as` described in my copendinpf application Serial No. 679,532, filed December 10. 1923. More specific and detailed objects will be manifest from the following description.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation. with parts broken away and in section. of preferred apparatus embodying vand adapted to carry out my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig.

Fig. 3 is a section on line of Fig. 1..

Referring to the drawings. the preferred apparatus here shown comprises a platen press which includes the usual base 10, corner ,guide posts 11, 11 rising therefrom and connected at their tops by an upper, stationary, press-head 12. a lower, vertically slidable press-head 13 guided upon the corner posts 11. a ram Cylinder 14. mounted centrally upon the base 10. and a ram 15 mounted therein and secured to the head 13 for raising and lowering the latter.

Slidably mounted upon the corner posts 11, betweenthe two press-heads. are a plurality of steam-platens or hot-plates 16, 16, each formed with zig-zag steam passages 17, 17 bored therein from the edge of the plate. the bores ,being closed at the edges of the plates by plugs 18, 18, and each platen being' provided' with suitable steam-supply and discharge pipes 19,19, 20,y 20, for circulating j 'steam therethrough. Cold-plates 21, 21 are similarly mounted. in alternate relation to the hot-plates, and may be bored as shown for the circulation of a cooling Huid therethrough, or for the circulation of a heating fluid, in case it is desired to emserial No. 17,930.

ploy them as hot-plates, as may be done on occasion, although in the particular work for which the apparatus here shown is pri.- marily intended these alternate plates 21 do not require the circulation of either a. heatinar or a cooling fluid therethrough.

Each hot-plate 16 is provided both on its upper and on its lower'side with a smooth metal face adapted to impart a smooth finish to a sheet of rubber pressed thereagainst, and each cold-plate 21 is provided both on its upper and on its lower .face with a resilient pad 22, which may be of rubber, rubberized fabricvor the like, adapted to engage the reverse side or back of the work, which here consists of a continuous strip of rubber or rubberized sheet material 23so looped back and forth as to extend between cach hot-plate and the adjacent cold-plate and to form loops beyond the ends of the plates` said loops each containing a reach of material approximately equal to one of the reaches lving between the plates. The pads 22 are adapted to hold the work against the adjacent hot-plates with substantially equal. pressure throughout `theeXte-nt of the plates` without requiring` substantial How of the rubber. notwithstanding` slightl variations in the thickness of the work. the plates thus beine'- adapted to give a quick. smoothing); surface-cure without requiring plasticising or substantial vulcanization of the main bodv of the sheet. A pad 22 corresponding to those on the cold-plates is provided upon the'upper face of the lower press-head 13.

Both the hot-plates 16 and the cold-plates 21 are guided upon the corner posts 11 by AIuide shoes such as is shown at 24 in Fig. 3, said guide shoes being secured to respective bars such as are shown at 25, 26. 27, 28 and 29, and a pair of such bars being secured to and extending' along the'side edges of each plate and projecting from the ends thereof past the adjacent corner posts.

The bars of each successive plate from the bottom to the top ofthe series extend farther from the ends of the plate than do those of the plate next below, as is shown clearly in Fig. 1, so that the end portions of the several pairs of bars are adapted to come to rest. when the press is opened by descent of the lower press-head, upon respective steps, 30, 30, formed on stationary brackets 31.731. secured to the base 10 and the upper press-head 12 at the respective ends of the Gti strip material 23 Which is' threaded'baclt andv forth through the series of rolls and plates, except the initialfroll` andthe terminal roll Ofi the ser-ies, which simply underlie the in coming and outgoing portions respectively of the Work.

A' sprocketi chain 35 is so mounted upon said sprockets as to drive each one in the proper directionl to feed the-stoel: forward tliroughthe successionof loops=as indicated by the arrows in Figi. Said chain runs over guidey sprockets 36, 36 mounted upon certain of the-brackets 31'and: over a` drive sprocket 37, secured; upon a 38jourrnazled in one pair ofthe brackets 3l and provided witlta sprocket 39'haring a chain ll() thereon running frei-nf a suit'al'ile source of power.

'lioisuplln-)rti the upper-reach of? each loop of material beyondv4 the ends ofi the plates and guide it to the pla-tesa table structure ll pivotally supported at one end' upon one of the -shattsi33and at the other upon a shaft l2 journaleflv in theibars, such. as` the lia-r 27, Fig; 3, ofi therespectiveplate, the table strueturebeing formed with slots. such asthe slot 43,- accommodatingthe shaft, so as to permit angular. movement ofV the i table structureas an incident of vertical, reciproc-al movement ofthe plate. The table structure thus adaptedi so toipreventi the work from catching or draggingl with eX- cessivefriction on the edge; of, the underlying plate and being unduly stretched as itis fed thereover.'

To dislodge the euredi reaches of stock from the liotq'ilatesatten eachcure, strippers are adapted toibe passed longitudinally of the Worlt between Ythe latter and the hotfplate surface against. whichit `is vulcanized. Each stri pper` comprises arod or.` shafty /llfmounted at eaeh of itsendsin abraclret link45 ofY a sprocket chaiirt, mounted upon sprockets such. as the sprockets` 47,., l? secured upon shafts i such, as the. shafts 4t2,V said. sprocket chains. being, slidably received in.. grooves suchv as'isshown; at l8 Fig.` 3, inthe hotplates: 16.. UponA each of. the rods. allA is strungk in axially, abuttedi relation a; set-of rollers 49, 49, forY Wh.ich,purpose glassfbeads maybe employed, One ofthe. shafts 42 of each` stripper asseimblyris; provided with a handicrank Vfor driving thesprocket chains 46 andithuspassing, the stripper 44,5429, alone; the face ofl the hot-plate, and progressively separatingthe iWork, therefrom shown in broken lines in Fig. `2,thebracket-lining 4 5-of the sprocket` chains being` adapted to support the shafts 4a and rollers 4-9 spaced at a distance from the face of the hot plaie so that the rollers 49 may freely rotate under frictional contact of the Work, to reduce forward dra-g ofthe stripper upon the uorh. lnef strippers, omiiositely positioned, are preferably employed upon cach pair ef sprocket chains 4:6, so that the dii'iving oi" the chains through half of their orbit will. cause one stripper to dislodge the work from one face of the hot-plate while the other operates similarly at the other :tace or the plate, the strippers being adapted to assun'ie inoperative, non-obstructive positions, ad# jacent the shafts 42, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, between stripping` operations.

Thehotplates 16 and the cold-plates 2l. are preferably of gradually reduced thickness at their anterior and posterior margins, as shown respectively at 16 and 2l, Fig. 2, soas to avoid an abrupt terminatioi'i of thesurface cured zones and to provide for substantially uniform cure of successive, overlapped zones of vulcanization.`

lh operation, the press being openedn by' lowering ofthe head 1.3,.as shown inLFig. l, the strip 23, which may bc a strip of vubA canized sheet rubber sliced from a thicker strip, is threaded through the aa'iparatus'as there shown, which may be facilitated by driving the rolls rThe head`l3 is then raised, causing' the several plates in successionito lie-lifted from the steps 30 ofthe brackets 31 and the series of plates to be presseditogether, withV reaches of. the strip 23 between them, against the upper `head l2. Thev hot-plates, continually heated by-` `the circulation of steam therein, contact; the finish face of the Work in certain reaches thereof which alternate with and` are each of approximately the same length as'` the lengt-h ofi the adjacent unembraeed reach of the strip, and as the hadstQQ of the coldplates press the Work with substantially uniform pressure against the `hot-platesthe latterY impart a quick surfacevulcanization and ak smoothinish toithe adjacent face of the' Work throughout the embraced' reaehes thereof The press is then opened, the strippers actuated to'dislodge the Work from-the het plates, andithe rolls-32` are driven-toistep thework forward adistanee approximately equal tothe length of a surface-vulcanized reach ofthe material, vv-hichibringsfthelin tervening, unfinished reaches into. position between the plates,` the proportions of'` the parts preferably being suela astoproviden slight overlap of thezones of surface vuleanizationi` and thusavoidi unfinished gaps betweenl such zones. rlhe press is again closed.V and these intervening zones arek vulcanized, after which the pressiisreopened and the; rollslQiareidriven through avsuftilll) cient number of revolutions to feed from the press all of the strip which has been vulcanized in the two cures just described, except that a slight overlap of the zones of vulcanization is preferably permitted at the delivery end ol? the last or uppermost hotplate.

The cycle of operations just described is then repeated successively to advance the strip through-the press and deliver it therefrom as a continuous strip having a moldinished face.

Asuthe surface cure may be quickly effected and is applied to a large area of the strip, in the aggregate, at each closing of the press, alternate movements of the stripfeeding rolls being of correspondingly great length, the production capacity of the apparatus is very high as compared with single unit platen presses adapted lto occupy the same iioor space and requiring nearly the same capital investment and labor costs, and conservation of heat also is effected. Other general and specific advantages, including those set forth in the above statement of objects, will be manifest.

Modifications may be resorted to without departing from the scope of my invention, and I do not wholly limit my claims to the specific construction or the exact procedure described.

I claim:

1. The method of vulcanizing strip material which comprises looping the material back and forth to bring zones thereof into close proximity, simultaneously vulcanizing said zones wit-hout vulcanizing intermediate zones, and then vulcanizing said intermediate zones while holding them in close proximity.

2. The method of vulcanizing strip material which comprises looping the material back and forth to bring zones thereof into close proximity, simultaneously vulcanizing said zones without vulcanizing intermediate zones, feeding the intermediate zones into close proximity, and vulcanizing said intermediate zones While so holding them.

Strip-vulcanizing apparatus comprising a series of pressing members in excess of two adapted to press a plurality of juxtaposed zones of continuous strip matcrial so looped back and forth as to provide the juxtaposed zones in closely spaced, overlapping relation to each other, means for heating material held between said members, and means for feeding the material through said series of pressing members `in interlooped relation thereto.

l. Strip-vulcanizing apparatus comprising a series of pressing members in excess of two overlying each other and adapted to be closed as a series to press zones of continuous strip material'looped back and forth between them, means for heating alternate members of the series without directly heating the intervening members, and means for supporting looped portions of the material exterior to the pressing members.

5. Strip-vulcanizing apparatus comprising a series of pressing members in excess of two overlying each other and adapted to be closed as a series to press zones of continuous strip material looped back and forth between them, means for heating members of the series, work-supporting and guiding rollers mounted at opposite sides of the series of pressing members at determinate distances therefrom such as to support, exterior to the pressing members, Zones of the work of approximately the same length as zones lying between the pressing members, and means for concurrently driving said rollers at such relative speeds and in such directions as to feed the work through the series of pressing members in interlooped relation thereto.

6. Strip-vulcanizing apparatus comprising a stationary upper press-head, a vertically reeiproeable lower press-head, a vertically aligned series of horizontal pressplatens interposed between the two, means for stopping and supporting the several press-platens in spaced apart positions as the lower press-head descends, and means for guiding strip material through the series of press-platens in interlooped relation thereto.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of March, 1925.

TOD J. MELL. 

